Door seal



M. N. FARCH March 1, 1932.

noon SEAL Filed May 25, 19:50

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Patented Mar. 1, 1932 PATENT OFFICE MOGENS N. FAROH, OF SHAKER HEIGHTS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE \V. S. TYLER COM- PANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO DOOR Application filed May 23,

This invention relates to a means and method of sealing doors against the passage of flame, smoke, gas, fumes, and other matter of that general character, but without bindind or scraping of the sealing elements. Thus my invention aims to provide means whereby either a sliding or a swinging door can be equipped to effectively stop the passage of gas and the like and still be easily, quietly and quickly opened or shut without the use of more force than would be required for an ordinary door of like size, and without employing clamps, dogs, or similar mechanism to complete the closing. Also, wear of the parts is prevented, so that no refitting becomes necessary, and no loss of effectiveness follows from use of the door.

The above and'related effects are brought about by the application to the door art of a principle similar to that now applied in the self-packing of joints in steam turbines, and is utilized in my invention by compelling the gas, smoke, flame or similar substance, in its movement around the door edge, to follow a narrow crooked channel which wire draws the gas, smoke, or flame and thereby offers great resistance to its passage.

While I have particularly shown and described my invention as used upon sliding elevator shaft doors, where quick and easy opening and closing are especially necessary, it is not limited either to sliding doors or to elevator shafts, but is of general application to other types of doors, windows or shutters, including swinging closures, and to any appropriate situation. Among the uses to which my invention is particularly applicaable are chemical plants, battery rooms of power houses or telephone exchanges, steam rooms of bath establishments, and, in fact, anywhere that it is necessary to allow ready access, but cut off the passage of gas, fumes, vapors, steam, hot air, smoke and the like, either as a regular matter or in emergencies.

In the following description, as well as in the claims, to avoid prolixity, I use the word door to include shutters, windows, and closing members generally for building openings, and similarly use the word doorway to include window and other openings. In

SEAL

1930. Serial No. 454,954.

like manner I use the word gas to include also fumes, vapors, steam, smoke, flame, dustladen air, air at different temperatures, and

so on.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the inner faces of a pair of single-speed, center-closing sliding doors, looking in the direction of the arrow 1, Fig. 2, and omitting the hangers; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section through such a door as is shown in Fig. 1, but including the hangers and related elements; Fig. 3 is a horizontal view of the entire doorway on a larger scale than Fig. 1, looking upward, as indicated by the line 33, Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view corresponding to Fig. 2, but showing a modification; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing another modification; Fig. 6 is a horizontal view 011 the line 66 of Fig. 7, analogous to Fig. 3, but showing a twospeed door; Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, but applied to the two-speed construction of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is an elevation similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating a modified method of applying the top sealing strip; Figs. 9 and 10 are respectively a side elevation and a transverse section of the bottom of a sliding door, showing a method of sealing.

In Fig. 1 the upper parts of two corresponding doors 11 and 11' are shown in closed position stripped of their hangers, and removed from the doorway. The faces seen are those which would be visible from the elevator shaft. In Figs. 1 and 3 primes are used where necessary to indicate counterpartate elements.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the door 11 is shown suspended from a carriage and track- .vay, indicated in diagrammatic style at 12. In this figure the usual features of an elevator door and doorway are shown, such as a soflit 13 over the hallway side, a jamb 14, a header 15 supporting the trackway and extending out at the top to meet the upper edge of a facia 16 on the shaft side above the doorway. The wall is indicated at 17.

Stepped strips 20 and 21 permanently secured to the inner face of each door 11 at the top and rear, but the strip 21 is almost entirely hidden behind the jamb 1a in Fig.

I. ai e 2, and is omitted from that figure to avoid confusion. A strip 22, complementary in shape to the strip 20, is permanently secured to the inside of the doorway, the two strips 20 and 22 being of such size and so positioned that when the door 11 is closed a zig-zag clearance space about one thirty-second of an inch wide will be left.

Restricted passages involving the same principles though differing in detail are provided at each of the four edges of each door, with the result that gas passing from the hallway to the shaft, or vice versa, must traverse a very narrow passage with several sharp changes of direction, which results in the establishment of a practically effective seal without actual cont-act of the sealing strips.

F 3 shows the arrangement of the strips 21, 22 along the rear edge, and certain featuresof the top strips 20 and 22. The strip 20, viewed either in plan or in horizontal sect-ion, is tapered from the back edge of the door, becoming thinner towards the front. Thus the Width of the bottom face H of the strip 20 is the distance J F, Fig. 3 at the rear of the door, but is the distance L hit at the front. The strip 20 is of stepped formation with successive horizontal faces H, B, D and successive outwardly and upwardly inclined riser faces A, C, E. The lines at which these various faces intersect are all parallel to the line FM, Fig. 3.. The rear end of the strip 20 makes a miter joint with the top of the vertical strip 21, see the line FGr, Fig. 1, while the front end is cut off at L-N flush with the front end of the door 11, leaving a slight end clearance from the strip 20. This clearance does not leave a direct path for gas, however, because it is closed by the edge seal u 24, 25, 26, 27, as will be clear from a comparison of Figs. 1 and 3. The matching stationary strip 22, secured to the upper side of the sofiit 13 and to the bottom part of the header 15, is counterpart of the strip 20,

-. having the same steps and the same horizontal inclinations and vertical tapers, but all tending in directions opposite to those of strip 20,, so that when the door is closed, the various corresponding faces are opposed although out of contact by a slight clearance, say on the order of one thirty-second of an inch. This clearance results from bodily offsetting the strip 22 downward and inward from the closed position of 21, as best shown in Fig. 2. Referring again to Fig. 3, the strips 22 and 22 are abutted at their ends without clearance, since they are immovable.

It will be apparent from a consideration of Figs. 2 and 3 that even a very slight outward movement of the doors 11 and 11 will result in an immediate increase in the clearance between the corresponding faces of the strips 20 and 22, on account of the taper. Thus the I sealing strips cannot scrape or bind, do not hinder the door openin and cannot wear.

Even if a defect in the supporting means 12 should allow the strips to come into actual contact at closing, the taper would still prevent any sliding friction.

The vertical strip 21 on the door and 23 on the doorway are similar to the strips 20 and 22, but are of constant transverse crosssection throughout, that is, they lack the taper J-H, L-M. In this connection it is to be observed that the portion G K J F of Fig. 3 represents the projection on a horizontal plane of the diagonally cut end F G, Fig. 1, and is therefore identical with a horizontal cross-section on the line 3-3, Fig. 1, of the strip 21. In Fig. 3 the strips 21 and 23 are shown in their correct cross-sectional relation.

Tn instances where actual contact of the sealing strips is desired, an insert such as, Fig. 4, of resilient material can be used in the header strip 40, which corresponds to the strip 20, Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and a. similar insert 41 can be used in the back strip 41, corresponding to the strip 21 of Figs. 1, 2 and 3. It will be understood that the use of inserts such as im-41 may be accomplished by inserts of other suitable forms and appropriate locations.

A further modification is shown by Fig. 5, utilizing strips having only rectangular elements, and of constant cross-section, that is, lacking the taper such as J F L M which is shown in Fig. 3. In this figure the strips -52 and 5153 correspond to the strips 2022 and 21-23 of Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

In using the strip forms of Fig. 5, the same effect as is produced by the taper, namely, the quick separation of the opposed faces when the opening movement of the door begins, may be accomplished by setting the strips 50 and 51 at an inclination to the horizontal, as indicated by Fig. 8.

To seal the abutting front edges of the doors, I employ corresponding side tongues 26 and grooves 27 Fig. 3, using a resilient insert 25 in the channel between the tongues 26, to abut the edge of a larger tongue 24. If it is desired to use merely a short insert strip, such as a stopping pad to catch the tongue 24 at top and bottom, the close clearances between the other tongue and groove elements will nevertheless constitute the same wire-drawing type of passage as is used at the top and rear, and so make an effectual seal.

For the bottom of the door I prefer to use the form of seal shown in Figs. 9 and 10, fastening an inverted channel bar 30 to the bottom of the door 11 to just clear the side walls of a guide groove 31 in. the door sill 32. The blocks 33 at each end of the bar 30 make a sliding {it in the groove and hold the bar 30 always out of contact.

In applying my construction to twospeed doors, the same methods are employed,

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as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, which represent a typical two-speed door installation comprising a fast door 35 and a slow door 36. The fast door carries a horizontal top strip 60 and a vertical back strip 61, the former matching a strip 62 on the sofiit 13, and the latter matching a strip 63 which faces rearward on the front of the slow door 36. The strips 60, 61, 62, 63 correspond to the strips 20,21, 22, 23 of the single door construction. In like manner the slow door can ries strips 70, 71, to match the strips 72 and 73, also corresponding to the strips 20, 21, 22, 23. The front lateral space at the top of the slow door is sealed by a short strip 80 on the door which matches with a strip 82 on the soflit. These short lateral strips are miter joined to the corresponding longitudinal strips 7 0 and 72, as seen in Fig. 6.

In the above disclosure I have shown certain definite modes of applying my invention, but it will be understood that other modifications and combinations of elements are possible; for example, the inclined arrangement of Fig. 8 could be used at the tops of either the double or single doors; strips such as 20 could be made of constant instead of tapered cross-section, and set either horizontally or inclined; a strip sealing arrangement like 21-23 could be used at the front edges instead of the tongue and groove construction; and so on.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. An edge seal for sliding doors comprising a stationary strip attached to the door header tapered with increasing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, and a strip attached to the door top correspondingly tapered with diminishing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, said strips being adapted to barely clear along their entire effective lengths when the door is closed.

2. An edge seal for sliding doors comprising a stationary strip attached to the door header tapered with increasing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, and a strip attached to the door top correspondingly tapered with diminishing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, corresponding steps lengthwise of said strips from top,

to bottom, the steps on the movable strip 0verlapping those on the stationary strip, said corresponding steps being out of contact when the doors are closed.

3. An edge seal for sliding doors comprising a stationary strip attached to the door header tapered with increasing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, and a strip attached to the door top correspondingly tapered with diminishing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, corresponding steps lengthwise of said strips from top to bottom, the steps on the movable strip ove-lapping those on the stationary strip, opposable riser faces on said steps correspondingly inclined from the vertical, said corresponding steps being out of contact when the doors are closed.

4. An edge seal for sliding doors comprising a stationary strip attached to the door header tapered with increasing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, and a strip attached to the door top correspondingly tapered with diminishing thickness in the direction of door closing travel, corresponding steps lengthwise'of said strips from top to bottom, the steps on the movable strip overlapping those on the stationary strip, opposable riser faces on said steps correspondingly inclined from the vertical, those of the stationary strip inclining upwardly away from those of the movable strip, said corresponding steps being out of contact when the doors are closed.

Signed by me this 19th day of May, 1930.

MOGEN S N. FARCH. 

